EV CHARGE MANAGEMENT

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Managing EV Chargers is complex

As EV charging stations expand globally, customers face challenges in managing their energy use.

Key operational goals, like ensuring availability and maximizing charging power, often conflict with other goals such as cost reduction, optimizing local energy sources (solar & storage), earning revenue from energy markets, and managing utility and circuit constraints.

Energy rates often spike during peak hours, increasing the cost of powering EV chargers. Businesses without time-of-use strategies or energy management systems struggle to avoid these surcharges
EV chargers can strain existing electrical circuits, particularly in locations with limited capacity.
Without proper management, this can result in equipment failure, costly repairs, or forced infrastructure upgrades.
As demand for electricity grows, utilities face supply constraints, which can lead to restrictions on energy usage, increased penalties for exceeding limits, or even planned blackouts in extreme cases
Many sites have invested in onsite renewable energy generation, like solar power, or storage solutions, yet lack the tools to integrate these effectively with EV charging infrastructure. This leaves potential cost savings and efficiency improvements unrealized.

If these challenges are not properly managed, the results can be severe:

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A Chargepoint Management System (CPMS) is not enough

Diagram of an energy management system showing various interconnected components including DERMS & VPP Platforms, Energy Management System, Load Management System, Distribution Network, Utility, Solar & Storage, Charge Point Management System, and Charge Point Operator, with trucks charging at the site.

To ensure that a site with EV charging stations operates economically, reliably and sustainably, a CPMS is not enough. It is important to include an Energy Management System (EMS) and Load Management System (LMS) that understands the full site status and makes the best control decisions for the overall benefit of the site.

EMS platforms are also recommended when integration with a Virtual Power Plant program or a Utility DER Management System is required. The diagram below shows how these different platforms work together to unlock all the benefits of EV charging.

Charge Point Management System (CPMS) – Manages EV charging stations, handling user authentication, billing, remote monitoring and peak power scheduling. The CPMS is not aware of other DERs that may be operating onsite such as BESS or Solar. Nor is it aware of other onsite loads and activities.
Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) – Owned by the utility, this platform coordinates DERs so that the utility grid operates efficiently and reliably. With commercial & industrial sites that have renewables and EV chargers, DERMS typically connect to a VPP platform or Energy Management System (EMS) to issue control instructions and gather site data, rather than connecting directly to the onsite assets. This allows the VPP or Energy Management platform to optimize the DERMS request.
Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Platform – Aggregates and controls DERs across multiple sites to participate in energy markets including spot market, demand response and frequency regulation markets. When an EMS exists for a site, the VPP platforms will connect to it since the EMS has complete knowledge of the site’s energy context. In response to a signal from the VPP platform, the EMS will determine the best way to orchestrate the DERs to deliver on the request.

Energy Management System (EMS) – Monitors and controls the overall energy flow within the site ensuring efficient use of DERs to optimize cost, reliability and sustainability goals across the site and organization. The EMS platform will also provide power quality monitoring, energy billing, benchmarking, control, sustainability tracking and energy standard compliance features.
Load Management System (LMS) – An onsite platform, often a gateway/industrial computer that balances real-time supply and demand across connected loads (EV chargers, buildings, processes) and sources (DERs and grid). The EMS sends schedules, operating modes and other data to the LMS so that it has the context to control the onsite DERs.
An EMS and LMS together provide the full capability required to optimize EV charging.

A critical component of an EV Charge Management system is a secure and resilient Operational Technology (OT) network. The OT network supports the communication and control of physical devices, systems, and processes involved in energy production, distribution, and management. Read more about the importance of OT Networks here.

Scenarios

Now that the purpose of an EMS and LMS is clear, let’s look at some scenarios that show how these systems work together.

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Minimizing grid energy charges and avoiding new demand peak

If the battery is not fully charged from the previous day’s solar, EnergyX® (our EMS & LMS platform) will charge the battery with off-peak energy from the grid overnight. When the on-peak tariff comes into effect, EnergyX will signal the battery to discharge power so that the site minimizes it’s grid energy consumption.

If the battery state of charge falls below a threshold, EnergyX® can reduce the charge rate of the EV Chargers to avoid setting a new peak demand threshold.

Electric car plugged into charging station at night, with city lights and a pink-lit tree in the background.

Energy market participation while charging EVs

If the EV chargers are not fully utilized and the battery has sufficient capacity, the EMS/LMS will signal to the VPP platform that there is energy available to bid to the energy market. At this point, EnergyX® (our EMS & LMS platform) will reserve that capacity in the battery for the duration of the market commitment (typically 5 minutes). If an EV connects to a charger during that time, the additional power for it will come from solar or the grid, since the battery’s capacity is reserved for the market.

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Utility constraints and EV charging

In some sites, the grid electrical infrastructure may not yet be able to support the additional load from EV charging stations. This can be due to local distribution capacity constraints, the site transformer size or regulatory issues.

In these situations, EnergyX® (our EMS & LMS platform) can charge batteries during times of low site consumption so that the batteries can discharge when the load is higher. This approach allows the site to provide the necessary charging power at all times without exceeding any utility constraints

A Note on Technology

EV charge management relies on standardized communication and control technologies for interoperability between the platforms above and the chargers themselves. Protocols such as OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol), widely adopted by charging networks, ensure seamless communication between chargers and management systems. IEEE 2030.5 (Smart Energy Profile 2.0) supports distributed energy resource (DER) integration, including demand response and load management. OpenADR (Open Automated Demand Response) enables automated energy demand adjustments, aligning EV charging with grid conditions. These technologies collectively enhance flexibility, security, and scalability in EV infrastructure. It is important to consider support for these protocols in any EMS-based solution.

Solutions

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EnergyX® Cloud Platform

Monitor & control your site’s energy use including EV charging stations, storage and solar.
Built-in reports for sustainability, power quality, energy usage and cost allocation and more. Custom reports for any need.
Integrate DERMS, VPP & Charge Point Management platforms as well as Building Management Systems and Industrial Control Systems
Connect to external data such as weather, pricing and enterprise data.
Support for all IoT protocols, MODBUS, OCPP and OPC.
Powered by an EnergyX Edge Gateway, the LMS optimizes power distribution across EV charging stations and other DERs to prevent network overload and reduce peak demand costs.

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We use ION Power meters, the most accurate & intelligent power meters available, measuring thousands of power quality and energy variables and transmitting them to the EnergyX platform.
For non-critical loads or circuits, we supply basic meters that provide all the necessary measurements to support energy and electrification management

Electrical Metering

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AZZO works with you to asses, define, design, engineer, procure and commission the EnergyX solution, including the Energy Management and Load Management functions
We’ll ensure you get the most from your energy assets over the long term with services to expand, enhance and extend your system
With a support contract from AZZO, you are assured that your energy management system will always be performing at its peak.